Collapsed landscape

The brothers Stasik and Seriya Yaptik stand on the edge of collapsed permafrost on the edge of a former lake. This type of subsidence caused by permafrost melt is becoming increasingly common in Russia. When the temperature rises the stability of the land changes, causing dramatic collapses. Earth's frozen soils on land and on the sea bed store large quantities of methane in permafrost and in natural gas deposits. Warming will accelerate the release of methane from existing stores and methanogenesis in thawed rotting biomass.